People (especially Americans) are shoe-crazy, among other things, i.e. Sex in the City, Diaries of a Shop-a-holic, etc… We go through so many shoes that statistically, stores import eight pairs for every man, woman and child in the country each year! Each year!!! And we throw them away before they’re even close to have “seen better days.” Compare that to the average in Mexico where it is three pairs of shoes per person, and even more unfortunate, are a large number of people that have none at all. None at all, while we have closets full of them!
Finding shoes for the shoe-less is something invigorated and motivated Wayne Elsey, founder and CEO of Soles 4 Souls. An executive in the shoe industry, Wayne coordinated an enterprise to ship hundreds of thousands of shoes to those who lost their belongings during the 2004 tsunami, which destroyed villages and lives across Southeast Asia. In 2005, Elsey did the same in New Orleans, Mississippi and Alabama after Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, he founded Soles 4 Souls. To date, Elsey’s nonprofit has distributed 3.6 million pairs of used and new shoes, donated by average citizens and shoe companies, to people in 61 countries.
Children will stand in lines for hours waiting to be fitted, some still holding on to the shoes they received previous years. Shoes provide a child’s foot with crucial protection against disease. With the simple act of donating shoes and having an organization to coordinate, lives are being touched. Bullen Dolli received shoes in Sudan from Soles for Souls and has come to the U.S. to volunteer, adding new laces to shoes before they are distributed – trying to give back himself.
Everything is done by, hand by everyone. Even Kevin Goughary, CFO, helps fit children with the proper shoes. Shoes are rubber banded together to keep pairs intact at donation sites and when shoes arrive at Soles 4 Souls’ central warehouse in Roanoke, Alabama, shoes are sorted by type, size and gender. Any shoes that can’t be refurbished are recycled. Many of the shoes that manufactures send are being saved from the landfills, like samples, prototypes, and imperfect shoes that will never make it to store shelves. The shoe company Adidas, has uses Soles for Souls to help fulfill their waste elimination goals.
One’s waste is another’s treasure.
photographs by Jason Fulford
